Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park is a historical site of California, USA, preserving an early hydroelectric power station. It is located near Sacramento in the city of Folsom, overlooking Lake Natoma. Built in the late 19th century by the Natoma Water and Mining Company and prison labor from Folsom State Prison, the powerhouse first delivered electricity to Sacramento in 1895. The power station remained in operation until 1952. Pacific Gas and Electric donated the plant to the State of California, which designated the site as California Historical Landmark Number #633. The 35-acre (14 ha) historic park was established in 1956. The powerhouse was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1981. Its four original water turbines are still in place.
A diversion canal took water from the American River to four 8-foot-tall (2.4 m), 750-kilowatt generators that were manufactured by the General Electric Company via four 8-foot-diameter (2.4 m) penstocks. Only two of the four generators were operating on July 13, 1895 when the powerhouse provided the first electricity to Sacramento via 22 miles (35 km) of transmission lines, making it the first place in the United States to transmit long-distance hydroelectric power. On September 9, 1895 the new power provided by the powerhouse resulted in a "Grand Electric Carnival" celebration by decorating the state capital with thousands of light bulbs.
A second powerhouse was constructed below the original facility in 1897 to house an additional 750-kilowatt generator to meet the growing residential and public transit electricity demands of Sacramento. By the early 20th century the demand for electricity in Sacramento had out paced the capacity of the expanded Folsom Powerhouse, thus larger powerplants were built along the Yuba, Feather, and Tuolumne Rivers in order to provide power for Northern California. The San Francisco-based California Gas and Electric Company bought the Folsom Powerhouse by 1902. When the company was reorganized into the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1906, it retooled the powerplant and forebay.
The Folsom Powerhouse was the second powerhouse on the American River. Folsom State Prison first harnessed the river to complete its own hydroelectric powerplant in 1893.
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